STEPHEN  Bo  WEEKS 

CLASS  OF  1886;  PH.D.  THE  JOHNS  HOPKINS  UNIVERSITY 


OF  THE 


TIE  WEEKS  OTIJECTTON 

OF 


=OS 


m 


097G.7L     <?^»C 


Speech  of 

Hon*  S*  A*  Crump 

of  Macon,  Ga* 


Delivered  at 
the  Reunion  of  the 
North  Carolina 
Confederate  Veterans 


Greensboro,  N«  C, 

August  20th, 

1902. 


AACON    EVENING    NEWS. 


SPEECH. 


Commander  and  Confederate    Veterans  of  North   Carolina, 
Ladies  and  Gentlemen  : 

It  is  an  unusnal  distinction  to  have  one  of  my  age  accorded 
the  honor  of  appearing  at  your  Annual  Reunion,  therefore  it 
affords  me  exceptional  pleasure  to  unite  with  you  in  giving  ex- 
pression to  those  sentiments  which  have  bound  us  together  by 
ties  that  enchained  the  hearts  of  our  ancestors  and  their  com- 
patriots, and  I  hope  it  will  serve  to  demonstrate  to  you  that  your 
sons'  sons  have  learned  the  lessons  of  history  truly  ;  that  we  shall 
teach  our  children,  that  they  may  transmit  it  to  posterity  to  come, 
that  your  many  struggles  for  liberty  have  not  been  in  vain. 
Georgia  and  North  Carolina  have  always  been  close  together  in 
their  domestic  relations  ;  my  home  city,  I  think,  the  fairest  in 
the  South,  bears  the  name  of  one  of  your  brilliant  sons — Nathaniel 
Macon. 

When  the  first  sweet  tones  of  liberty  rang  out  from  oppressed 
Mecklenberg  the  sound  was  welcomed  by  ' '  Cavalier  and  Round- 
head ' '  alike,  as  it  assured  advancement  to  both  circles  and  opened 
to  the  colony  a  hope  of  independent  government ;  in  which  the 
former  heard  the  death-knell  of  tyranical  oppression  and  petty 
exactions,  and  in  which  the  latter  divined  the  sunshine  of  a  social 
revolution. 

The  chimes  of  liberty  are  always  sweet,  and  then  they  trav- 
eled upon  the  wings  of  the  wind  and  smote  the  ear  of  the  dull 
Dutchman  of  the  New  Netherlands,  as  well  as  the  quaint  Quaker, 
in  their  far  away  homes  ;  the  praying  Puritans  of  Plymouth  Rock, 
prayed  another  prayer  and  the  oppressed  Huguenots  joined  in 
the  benediction  ■  "  That  we  do  hereby  declare  ourselves  a  free 
and  independent  people  ;  are,  and  of  right  ought  to  be  a  sovereign 
and  self-governing  association,  under  the  control  of  no  power, 
other  than  that  of  our  God,  and  the  general  government  of  the 
Congress  :  to  the  maintenance  of  which  independence  we  solemnly 
pledged  to  each  other  our  mutual  co-operation,  our  lives,  our  for- 
tunes and  our  most  sacred  honor. ' ' 

The  historian  exults  :  The  council  set  apart  the  first  day  of 
August  as  the  day  for  proclaiming  the  declaration  at  the  court 
house  in  Halifax. 


<k 


<e*V<,s4 


It  was  a  proud  day  for  the  ancient  borough. 

"  And  Belgium's  capital  had  gathered  then, 
Her  beautj'  and  her  chivalry," 

— Wheeler's  History  of  North  Carolina. 

Bright  shone  the  glorious  sun  as  if  all  nature  rejoiced  at  the 
birth  of  a  mighty  nation.  The  words  of  Cornelius  Harnett  rings 
yet  around  the  world  and  in  the  ears  of  millions  of  freemen  ;  re- 
incarnated in  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  the  breathing 
spirit  of  the  Articles  of  Confederation  and  the  Archkey  of  Con- 
stitutional Liberty  :  and  in  its  sublimity,  as  a  beacon  light,  it  has 
wrapped  its  sacred  vestments  about  the  Queen  of  the  Antilles  and 
cast  its  bright  radiance^in  the  path  of  the  liberty  loving  Beers  of 
South  Africa.  Of  course  the  sun  did  not  long  continue  to  shed 
its  kindly  rays  upon  this  sacred  nativity.  It  was  the  gauntlet  of 
war  hurled  at  a  proud  Monarch  of  a  proud  and  imperious  nation, 
whose  arms  had  been  victorious  in  [every  contest,  for  centuries 
past,  upon  land  and  sea. 

This  declaration  was  anticipated  in  consequence  of  the  bloody 
battle  which  had  occurred  between  the  British  officers  and  the 
Colonists  in  opposition  to  oppressive  taxes  ;  and  at  this  time  the 
Convention  of  the  Colonies  which  formed  the  Declaration  of  In- 
dependence was'in  session.  Thus  North  Carolina  built  the  first 
and  proudest  pillar  in  the  sacred  temple  of  liberty.  You  have 
perpetuated  the  name  and  fame  of  "  Old  Guilford  Court  House," 
by  honoring  the  fairest  and  bravest  soldier  who  came  from  an 
Eastern  Colony,  in  this  beautiful  city,  and  joining  withlGeorgia 
in  materially  rewarding  his  distinguished  services  and  zeal.  A 
Quaker,  and  hated  by  the  Puritans,  his  last  resting  place  is  en- 
shrined in  the  hearts  of  the  people  of  my  State — Nathaniel  Greene. 
Though  powerful  as  our  government  is  today  among  the 
nations  ofthe  earth,  and  great  the  promise  of  future  grandeur, 
history,  nevertheless,  cautions  us  by  pointing  to  the  fact  that  we 
never  have-been  a  nation,  are  not  now,  and  never  will  be,  as  origi- 
nating from  a  parent  stock — a  family  of  the  world  !  Our  citizen- 
ship sweeps  the  known  races  ofthe  human  family,  including  the 
strong  and  the  weak.  Cycles  of  time,  as  measured  by  the  scien- 
ists,  will  be  required  to  unify  them  into  a  nation  ;  and  this  fact 
alone,  more  than  any  one  factor,  has  produced  the  flood  upon  our 
fortunes,  and  the  drought  upon  our  dreams  of  material  happi- 
ness. 

Nature's  law  demand,  and  experience  teaches,  that  the  weak 
must  submit  and  the  strong  will  dominate.     The  first  efforts  of 


8* 


3 

our  patriot  ancestors  to  harmonize  these  racial  distinctions,  con- 
flicting views  and  diverse  interests,  as  presented  by  the  hete- 
rogeneous peoples  mingling  to  make  our  Republic,  found  an  abor- 
tive lodgment  in  the  articles  of  Confederation.  Seeking  a  com- 
mon purpose,  confronted  by  a  common  foe,  and  with  the  star  of 
liberty  lighting  their  way,  the  Eastern  colonies,  through  the 
spirit  of  avarice  and  greed,  which  has  ever  characterized  their 
dealings  with  the  South,  set  in  motion  that  principle  of  govern- 
mental robbery  which  abides  with  us  unto  this  good  hour. 

Before  the  smoke  of  battle  had  cleared  away  and  the  result  of 
the  colonial  arms  had  been  fully  realized,  Virginia  ceded  to  the 
Continental  Congress  all  that  part  of  her  vast  domain  known  as 
the  Northwestern  Territory,  lying  northwest  of  the  river  Ohio, 
south  of  the  Great  Lakes  and  east  of  the  Mississippi ;  the  purpose 
of  this  session  was  said  to  be  voluntary  to  pay  the  war  debts  of  all 
colonies,  subdivide  it  into  States,  and  admit  the  States  into  the 
Union  ;  but  primarily,  if  you  will  read  the  history  of  the  times, 
to  allay  the  apprehension  and  the  fear  of  the  Eastern  colonies  that 
they  would  not  get  the  "  Lion's  share  "  of  the  Seven  Years  Hunt 
for  Liberty. 

You  will  readily  recall  that  at  that  time  the  colonies  had  been 
considered  about  equal  in  population  and  material  wealth,  except 
the  Southern  colonies  owned  under  various  grants  from  the  King, 
immense  areas  of  fertile  plains  and  timbered  valleys,  stretching 
from  the  'Eastern  seashore  to  the  Father  of  Waters.  The  keen 
sense  of  the  avaricious  sees  every  straw  that  floats  in  the  breeze, 
and  they  never  overlooked  the  principles  laid  down  by  the  Courts: 
"  According  to  the  theory  of  the  British  Constitution,  all  vacant 
lands  are  vested  in  the  crown ;  and  the  exclusive  power  to  grant 
them  is  admitted  to  reside  in  the  crown,  as  a  branch  of  the  Royal 
prerogative."     8  Wheat,  542. 

At  this  time  Virginia  was  called  the  "  Mother  of  the  Colonies," 
and  could  be  liberal,  but  Georgia  and  North  Carolina,  sisters  only, 
were  nagged  into  similar  voluntary  sessions,  like  Jacob  bought 
Esau's  birth  right  !  The  public  debt,  foreign  ard  domestic,  was 
less  than  $60,000,000,  so  the  Southern  colonies  paid  into  the 
common  treasury  of  this  vast  country,  more  than  five  times  the 
area  of  the  Eastern  colonies  and  worth  ten  times  the  public  debt, 
while  the  East  contributed  a  pittance.  This,  and  this  alone, 
would  "insure  domestic  tranquility,"  and  would  have  been  a 
"catch-bargain  "  if  we  had  taken  a  receipt  in  full. 

The  Revolution  was  entirely  political  and  the  success  of  arms 


could  only  transfer  from  the  King,  the  sovereignty  he  held  to  the 
separate,  distinct  and  several  colonies,  over  the  people  and  the 
crown-lands.  As  the  colonies  grew  into  Republics  the  strain  was 
too  great  on  the  fragile  timbers  of  the  old  Arc  of  Confederation, 
she  bilged  on  the  Eastern  side ;  the  pumps  of  patriotism  failed  to 
save  her  as  she  drifted  from  her  moorings  into  the  muddy  waters 
of  the  Constitution.  The  labor  and  learning  of  the  whole  coun- 
try were  centered  in  fashioning  another  and  a  new  ship  of  State, 
with  timbers  from  but  few  of  the  States,  to  be  launched  in  mid- 
summer upon  wraters  that  looked  placid,  blue  and  serene  like  the 
bottomless  sea  that  feeds  in  its  deep  bosom  the  monstrous  forms 
of  leviathans!  "The  burnt  child  dreads  the  fire."  The  long 
tenting  upon  the  battle  fields  of  the  bloody  Revolution  had  not 
inspired  confidence  and  faith  in  the  soldiers  of  North  Carolina  to 
put  their  trust  in  the  dominant  spirit  of  the  East  ;  others  had 
their  doubts  and  fears,  but  finally  all  the  States  surrendered  in 
concilliation,  after  assurances  repeatedly  made,  that  the  words  in 
the  Constitution  meant  what  they  expressed. 

The  preamble  was  catchy  and  boiling  over  with  promises  : 
"  We,  the  people  of  the  United  States,  in  order  to  form  a  more 
perfect  Union,  establish  justice,  insure  domestic  tranquility,  pro- 
vide for  the  common  defense,  promote  the  general  welfare  and 
secure  the  blessings  of  liberty  to  ourselves  and  our  posterity,  do 
ordain  and  establish  this  Constitution  for  the  United  States  of 
America."  The  idea  and  plans  were  new,  in  fact,  an  anomaly 
among  the  governments  of  the  earth  !  "A  Union  of  States,  sov- 
ereign and  independent  within  their  own  limits  in  their  internal 
and  domestic  concerns,  and  bound  together  as  one  people  by  a 
general  government,  possessing  certain  enumerated  and  restricted 
powers,  delegated  to  it  by  the  people  of  the  several  States."  The 
whole  instrument  was  plainer  than  the  promise  to  the  children  of 
Israel.  They  have  kept  their  faith  four  thousand  years  !  The 
simplicity  and  innocence  of  childhood  would  have  been  appeased 
by  hearing  it  read. 

This  was  the  twelfth  year  of  Independence.  "  Watchman, 
what  of  the  night?" 

The  munificence  of  Virginia  was  the  bait  which  toled  the 
hidden  monster  from  the  deep.  Slavery  was  prohibited  in  the 
territory  northwest  of  the  river  Ohio,  in  the  act  accepting  the  gift, 
by  the  right  under  the  Constitution,  as  contended  by  the  North 
in  the  principle  asserted  in  the  Missouri  compromise. 

In  this  great  territory,  like  in  many  of  the  States,  it  was  dis- 
covered that  negro  slavery  was  unprofitable,  and  being  unfit  for 


mechanical  industries,  as  well  as  the  fact  that  the  climate  was  too 
severe  for  safe  investment,  slavery  had  drifted  to  the  Southern 
States.  These  reasons  deflected  public  notice  of  the  inhabitation.: 
of  slavery  in  the  territory  'till  many  years  later.  During  this 
period,  industries  throughout  all  the  States  were  nourishing,  the 
North  was  growing  rich  in  manufactory,  while  the  Southern 
States  were  keeping  pace  with  rice,  cotton,  sugar,  tobacco  and 
all  the  cereals  ;  slaves  were  increasing  in  numbers  and  healthful 
conditions. 

It  was  the  calm  before  the  storm  ! 

The  "  Meddlesome  Matties"  of  the  North,  with  their  insatia- 
ble maws,  could  not  tolerate  the  spirit  of  ease  and  dignity  with 
which  the  South  contemplated  and  enjoyed  the  privileges  of  in- 
dependence and  affluence. 

Importation  of  slaves  had  been  prohibited  by  the  South  ;  the 
"  Yankee  Skipper  "  had  lost  his  profit  as  well  as  his  love  for  the 
negro  ;  he  was  a  social  excrescence,  was  sold  or  driven  away,  de- 
nied citizenship  or  even  the  right  to  testify  in  the  courts.  Some 
of  the  States  prohibited  his  coming  "  free  or  slave  "  by  law,  like 
they  do  now  in  Illinois  without  law.  The  good  people(?)  of  Con- 
necticut passed  stringent  penal  laws  prohibiting  any  one  from 
teaching,  boarding  or  harboring  a  negro  in  the  State.  The  pre- 
amble to  these  peculiar  laws  ran  thus:  "And  whereas,  the  in- 
crease in  slaves  in  this  State  is  injurious  to  the  poor  and  incon- 
venient." 

The  legislatures  of  the  Northern  States  vied  with  each  other 
in  nullifying  the  "  fugitive  slave  law,"  in  violation  of  the  Consti- 
tution and  the  decision  of  the  courts  ;  one  State  made  it  a  penalty 
of  $2,000.00  and  five  years  imprisonment,  for  the  owner  to  claim 
by  law  a  fugitive  slave. 

Despite  the  bickering  and  snarling,  for  many  years  imigration 
flowed  into  our  country.  New  territory  was  purchased,  and 
great  wealth  was  accumulated.  In  18 16,  Congress  passed  the 
"  Robber  Tariff  Act  "  and  no  one  complained  ;  in  fact,  Southern 
statesmen  favored  the  measure,  as  it  would  stimulate  Northern 
manufacturies. 

"The  Missouri  Compromise"  Act  of  Congress  divided  the 
country  on  acute  lines  and  exacted  great  conservatism  from  the 
South  to  weather  the  storm  of  villification,  abuse  and  down-right 
lying  which  blew  from  the  North  with  a  chilly  blast.  Missouri  was 
admitted  into  the  Union  as  a  slave  State,  but  the  jarring  thud 
with  which  it  was  dumped  into  the  new  ship  of  State  shifted  the 


cargo.  The  act  of  admission  prohibited  slavery  in  all  of  the  terri- 
tory known  as  Louisiana,  purchased  from  France,  north  of  Mis- 
souri, and  of  north  parallel  360  30'. 

Missouri  was  settled  by  Southern  men  and  its  ' '  internal  con- 
cerns "  were  shaped  by  Southern  sentiment.     This  was  in  1820. 

Irritation  and  aggitation  continued  till  these  wedded  evils  gave 
birth  to  all  sorts  of  notions  and  ideas  of  civil  rights  ;  "  free  soil ;  " 
1 '  individual  sovereignty  ;  "  "  squatter  sovereignty  ;  "  "  natural 
sovereignty  ;  "  and,  in  truth,  all  of  the  vagaries  and  theories  dis- 
ordered minds  could  conjure  to  evade  the  Constitution,  so  plainly 
written  and  so  well  understood.  Northern  courts  sneered  at  the 
Constitution  and  enforced  their  laws  without  precedent,  right  or 
justice.  Usually  passing  judgment  in  accord  with  local  opinion 
or  popular  ideas  surrounding  the  court.  One  striking  peculiarity 
about  most  of  these  decisions  should  be  pointed  out  in  order  that 
the  insanity  in  them  could  be  discerned.  They  proceeded  on  the 
idea  of  the  Constitution  that,  as  each  State  was  sovereign  within 
itself,  and  each,  therefore,  might  regulate  slavery  within  its  own 
borders  irrespective  of  the  rights  of  other  coterminous  States,  be- 
cause of  their  sovereignty,  comity  only,  would  control  their  con- 
duct toward  each  other,  and  by  parity  (or  paragon)  of  reasoning, 
comity  was  regulated  by  treaties  between  foreign  nations.  They 
were  too  blind  to  see  the  ' '  fugitive  slave  law  "  7  in  the  Constitu- 
tion, and  too  crazy  to  recognize  the  fact  that  the  States  had  dele- 
gated to  Congress  all  treaty-making  power. 8 

The  Southern  people,  in  their  dealings  among  themselves, 
had  for  many  generations  learned  to  repose  the  utmost  faith  and 
confidence  in  their  fellowmen,  and  had  every  reason  to  believe 
that  the  North  would  keep  their  covenants,  but  intolerance  and 
self-sufficiency,  to  put  it  mildly,  had  seized  the  Northern  mind, 
the  tariff  for  revenue  only  had  wriggled  its  slimy  form  into  rob- 
bery for  protection  of  "  infant  industries" — which  are  now  still 
swinging  to  the  ifudder  ! 

Avarice  and  envy  were  nursed  into  rage  and  frenzy  ;  8a  Love- 
joy  was  killed  by  a  mob  in  Illinois;  slaves  were  incited  "to 
rise  ;  "  the  negro  Turner  and  his  followers  murdered  women  and 
children  ;.  nullification  and  secession  were  preached  and  practiced. 

When  the  Kansas-Nebraska  bill  reached  Congress,  pandemo- 


(7)  Par.  2,  Sec.  2,  Art.  II. 

(8)  Par.  1.  Sec.  10,  Art.  I. 

(8a)  The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  was  divided  in  1844.  The  Southern  Church  sued 
the  Northern  Church  and  by  decree  in  equity  compelled  a  division  of  the  Church  prop- 
erty.   See  16  Howard,  U.  S.,  p,  288. 


nium  broke  loose;  "Poor  bleeding  Kansas"  was  the  seat  of 
war — "  holy  war  " — waged  by  societies  formed  in  the  East  for  the 
purpose. 

Congress  ' '  compromised  ' '  the  ' '  Missouri  Compromise  Act ' ' 
of  1820  ;  "  John  Brown's  body  went  marching  on  "  into  Virginia 
and  into  Purgatory — if  there  was,  at  that  time,  so  pleasant  a  place. 

The  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  declared  the  ' '  Mis- 
souri Compromise  Act  "  unconstitutional  and  void  ;  holding  that 
Congress  had  no  power  to  prohibit  slavery  in  the  territories.9  This 
decision  tracked  the  plain  words  of  the  Constitution,  and  settled 
many  national  questions  ;  it  defined  and  limined  the  power  of 
Congress  to  wantonly  violate  the  Constitution  ;  it  settles  the  status 
of  the  negro  as  to  citizenship  ;  and  limited  the  powers  of  Congress 
to  the  grants  contained  in  the  Constitution. 

The  words  of  Chief  Justice  Taney  are  painfully  prophetic  of 
some  of  our  fresh  troubles.  Listen  to  his  wisdom  :  ' '  There  is 
certainly  no  power  given  by  the  Constitution  to  the  Federal  Gov- 
ernment to  establish  or  maintain  colonies  bordering  on  the  United 
States  or  at  a  distance,  to  be  ruled  and  governed  at  its  own  pleas- 
ure ;  nor  to  enlarge  its  territorial  limits  in  any  way,  except  by* 
admission  of  new  States."  IO 

This  is  known  as  the  famous  "  Dred  Scott  Case. "  It  was 
ably  argued  on  both  sides  twice  before  the  court.  "  The  decision 
flashed  through  the  North  and  engendered  the  most  bitter  sec- 
tional abuse  ;  their  blind  fury  knew  no  bounds  ;  it  was  a  sore  dis- 
appointment to  the  South  haters ;  they  assailed  the  courts  and 
reviled  the  Constitution.  Abolitionists  asserted  that  the  "Con- 
stitution was  a  covenant  with  death  and  an  agreement  with 
hell."  I2 

Nothing  seemed  possible  to  save  the  Union.  The  statesmen 
from  the  South  had  so  shaped  the  policy  of  the  government  to 
maintain  an  equilibrum  of  power,  and  keep  in  check  that  ever- 
lasting and  growing  spirit  of  destruction  now  loosening  the  dogs 
of  war  !  ' '  How  can  the  Union  be  saved  ?  There  is  but  one  way 
by  which  it  can  be  saved  with  any  certainty  ;  and  that  is  by  a  full 
and  final  settlement,  on  the  principles  of  justice,  of  all  the  ques- 
tions at  issue  between  the  sections.  The  South  asks  for  justice — 
simple  justice — and  less  she  ought  not  to  take.     She  has  no  com- 


(9)  Scott  vs.  Sanford,  60  U.  S.,  691. 

(10)  Scott  vs.  Sanford,  60  U.  S.  p.  718. 

(11)  Supreme  Court  of  U.  S.  was  composed  of  Chief  Justice  Taney  (Md.),  Associate 
Justice  Wayne  (Ga.),  Nelson  (N.  Y.),  Catron  (Tenn.),  Daniel  (Va.),  Grier  (Pa.),  Camp- 
bell (Ala.),  McLean  (O.),  and  Curtis  (Mass.);  last  two  dissenting. 

(12)  "Our  Country,"  p.  289. 


promise  to  offer  but  the  Constitution,  no  concession  or  surrender 
to  make."  Mr.  Calhoun  answers  his  own  question.  "  Can  this 
be  done  ?  Yes,  easily  !  Not  by  the  weaker  party,  for  it  can  of  it- 
self do  nothing — not  even  protect  itself,  but  by  the  stronger.  But 
will  the  North  agree  to  do  this  ?  It  is  for  her  to  answer  this  ques- 
tion. But,  I  will  say,  she  cannot  refuse  if  she  has  half  the  love 
of  the  Union  which  she  professes  to  have.  Nor  without  exposing 
herself  to  the  charge  that  her  love  of  power  and  agrandisement  is 
far  greater  than  her  love  of  the  Union. 

The  general  elections  were  drawing  nigh,  and  party  spirit  was 
running  high — it  seemed  a  mania  for  disruption  had  seized  all  the 
people.  Four  parties  were  in  the  national  field  ;  Bell  and  Everett 
lead  the  "Union  party,"  and  declared  for  the  Union,  adherence 
to  the  Constitution  and  enforcement  of  the  laws  ;  the  Democratic 
party  had  split  in  two,  Douglas  and  Johnson  led  one  wing,  de- 
claring for  "  Popular  Sovereignty  "  in  the  territories,  and  deny- 
ing the  authority  of  Congress  to  interfere  with  the  will  of  the 
majorities.  The  other  wing  of  the  party  had  for  its  candidates 
Breckenridge  and  L,ane,  known  as  the  "States  Rights  Party  ;  " 
.the  Republican  party  was  led  by  Lincoln  and  Hamlin,  and  in  its 
platform  joined  issue  with  the  other  three  parties  ;  the  Conven- 
tion which  made  this  nomination  was  entirely  sectional  and 
opposed  every  interest  represented  in  the  South.  Lincoln  was 
elected.  Every  hope  the  South  had  that  the  Union  could  be  saved 
was  gone  forever. 

The  balance  of  power  was  shifted  to  the  North  and  the  revel 
of  fanatics  began,  encouraged  by  political  success,  their  conduct 
became  unbearable. 

To  a  proud  and  princely  people,  God  fearing  and  chivalrous, 
taught  to  respect  the  rights  of  their  fellowman  and  defend  their 
own,  mindful  of  the  many  wrongs  and  injuries  wantonly  inflicted 
in  the  past,  faith  broken,  hope  destroyed,  with  a  just  fear  for  their 
fortunes,  their  liberties  and  their  lives,  the  South  peaceably  re- 
sumed its  delegated  powers  and  withdrew  from  the  Union.  The 
most  lamentable  war  the  world  ever  saw  ensued. 

The  President  lost  his  head,  called  for  troops  to  coerce  a  State 
in  the  name  of  the  Constitution,  terming  peaceable  secession  "  an 
insurrection."  He  issued  his  proclamation  commanding  the 
whole  country  to  set  apart  a  day  for  "  Fasting,  humiliation  and 
prayer."  The  preachers  had  their  day.  In  the  North  they  mis- 
construed the  sacred  scriptures  as  they  had  our  common  Constitu- 
tion.    Some  stood  upon  the  hill-tops  and  reviled  us  like  Shimei  of 


old  cursed  King  David  !  A  rabid  preacher  from  Brooklyn  said  : 
"  In  one  and  the  same  year,  1620,  English  ships  landed  the  Puri- 
tans in  New  England,  and  negro  slaves  in  Virginia.  *  *  *  I 
love  every  drop  of  Puritan  blood  the  world  ever  saw."  I3  Evi- 
dently having  in  mind  and  memory  the  spirit  of  Cotton  Mather, 
one  of  the  early  graduates  of  Harvard  College. 

"  September  ye  15,  1682. 
"To ye  Aged  and  Beloved  Mr.  John  Higginson  : 

' '  There  is  now  at  sea  a  ship  called  the  Welcome,  which  has 
on  board  an  hundred  or  more  of  the  heritics  and  malignants  called 
Quakers,  with  W.  Penn,  who  is  the  chief  scamp,  at  the  head  of 
them.  The  General  Court  had  accordingly  given  secret  orders  to 
Master  Malichi  Huscott,  of  the  brig  Porpoise,  to  waylay  said 
Welcome,  slyly,  as  near  the  Cape  of  Cod  as  may  be,  and  make 
captive  said  Penn  and  his  ungodly  crew,  so  that  the  Lord  may  be 
glorified  and  not  mocked  on  the  soil  of  this  new  country  with  the 
heathen  worship  of  these  people.  Much  spoil  can  be  made  by 
selling  the  whole  lot  to  Barbadoes,  where  slaves  fetch  good  prices 
in  rum  and  sugar  and  we  shall  not  only  do  the  Lord  great  service 
by  punishing  the  wicked,  but  we  shall  make  good  for  his  minis- 
ters and  people.  Master  Huscott  feels  hopeful,  and  I  will  set 
down  the  news  when  the  ship  comes  back. 

' '  Yours  in  ye  bowels  of  Christ, 

"  Cotton  Mather."  h 

This  is  a  fair  sample  of  the  disease  which  afflicted  the  North. 
Listen  a  moment  at  the  tones  of  love  coming  from  the  South  : 

' '  Strange  as  it  may  seem  to  those  who  are  not  familiar  with 
the  system,  slavery  is  a  school  of  virtue,  and  no  class  of  men  have 
furnished  sublimer  instances  of  heroic  devotion  than  slaves  in 
their  loyalty  and  love  to  their  masters.  We  have  seen  them  re- 
joice at  the  cradle  of  the  infant,  and  weep  at  the  bier  of  the  dead  ; 
and  there  are  few  amongst  us,  perhaps,  who  have  not  drawn  their 
nourishment  from  their  generous  breasts. I5 

Listen  further  to  the  gallant  spirit  which  had  been  spared  so 
long  and  has  just  now  taken  its  flight : 

' '  That  these  slaves  form  parts  of  our  households,  even  as  our 
children,  and,  that,  too,  through  a  relationship  recognized  and 
sanctioned  in  the  scriptures  of  God  even  as  the  other.     Must  I 


(13)  Beecher,  Jan.  4,  1861. 

(14)  Judge  burton's  address  before  Georgia  Bar  Association,  1902. 
T(i5)  Rev.  Dr.  J.  H.  Thornwell's  address,  Nov.  21,  i860,  Columbia,  S.  C, 


pause  to  show  how  it  has  fashioned  our  modes  of  life,  and  deter- 
mined all  of  our  habits  of  thought  and  feeling  and  moulded  the 
very  type  of  our  civilization."  l6 

Slavery  is  older  than  civilization,  even  that  sort  hurled  at  us 
from  the  North  !  It  originated  in  early  history  by  accident  of 
capture  in  war — benevolent  savages  found  it  more  profitable  to 
enslave  their  captives  than  to  murder  them.  All  ancient  orien- 
tal nations,  of  whom  we  have  record,  including  the  jews,  had 
their  slaves.     The  Hebraic  laws  authorized  it.  I7 

In  the  Homeric  Poems  it  is  related  as  the  ordinary  destiny  of 
war.  Ullyses  narrawly  escaped  kid-napping  and  consequent  ser- 
vitude. Aristotle  defended  slavery  on  the  ground  of  diversity  of 
races,  dividing  mankind  into  the  Free  and  Slave  by  nature. 
Roman  slavery  preveiled  long  after  the  great  empire  had  fallen  to 
pieces.  We  take  the  word  ' '  slave  ' '  from  the  large  number  of 
Slavonian  captives  at  Rome. 

It  is  not  my  purpose  to  discuss  the  barbarity  of  this  new 
struggle  for  liberty,  nor  essay  to  paint  a  glowing  tribute  to  the 
heroes  and  men  who  repelled  this  tyrrany  with  the  life-blood  of 
the  most  gallant  soldiery  human  history  ever  transmitted  and 
sacrificed  a  treasury  of  money  unequaled  in  the  annals  of  war. 
To  undertake  this  would  be  like  walking  into  a  vast  flower  gar- 
den to  garner  a  bouquet  from  the  rarest  and  choicest  of  God's 
creation.  On  every  field  of  battle  their  matchless  gallantry  and 
daring  bravery  carried  aloft  their  flag  to  victory.  But  let  it  be 
said  of  the  Southern  soldier  of  rank  or  file  :  ' '  Wherever  he  was, 
liberty  abided,  faith  was  made  more  enduring,  courage  was  ex- 
alted, and  devotion  to  friend  and  country  immortalized.  If  flowers 
could  spring  from  his  deeds  of  virtue,  of  sacrificial  allegiance  to 
the  highest  forms  of  human  duty,  and  bloom  upon  his  grave,  his 
last  resting  place  would  present  a  gem  to  earth,  to  consecrate  it 
with  its  best  possession,  a  body  of  a  brave  man  !  " 

The  reign  of  terror  began  despite  the  prayers  and  supplica- 
tions of  the  people.  The  love  of  conquest,  subjection  and  plunder 
had  to  be  assuaged. 

The  effort  of  resistence  was  spontaneous  !  the  most  wonderful 
government  on  earth  was  conceived  in  a  day,  and  the  grandest 
army  that  ever  bore  arms  was  born  in  a  night. 

With  about  6oo,coo  men,  all  told,  without  arms  or  ordinance, 
without    commissary  or   quartermaster,    blockaded   by   sea   and 


(16)  Address  of  Dr.  D.  B.  Palmer,  New  Orleans,  Nov.  29,  i860. 

(17)  25th  Chap.  l,eviticus,  44-46. 


walled  in  on  land  by  a  force  of  about  3,300,000  of  the  best  armed, 
best  equipped  and  best  drilled  soldiers  money  and  power  could 
command,  you  killed  and  wounded  more  than  three  times  as  many 
of  your  enemies  as  you  had  enlisted  men  on  your  rolls  ! 
My  distinguished  preacher  friend  and  patriot  has  sung  : 

"  And  while  we  do  not  brag  nor  boast  of  how  our  comrades 

fought, 
The  pension  rolls  you  know  full  well  the  facts  of  this  have 

taught  ; 
And  if  these  pension  rolls  be  true,  and  none  have  said 

they  lied, 
We  must  have  crippled  all  the  world  and  half  the  coons 

besides."  l8 

Either  this  Reverend  Confederate  veteran  is  right  or  else  the 
other  poet  is  correct,  who  said  : 

"  Death  gets  them  all,  both  great  and  small, 
Except  the  pensioned  soldier. 
They  never  die,  but  multiply, 
As  fast  as  they  grow  older  ! ' ' 

But  I  digress. 

The  Southern  States  resumed  "  their  separate  independence," 
that  is  to  say,  each  separate  State,  by  its  delegates  in  Convention, 
prepared  and  submitted  to  the  votes  of  the  people  the  ' '  Ordi- 
nances," "resuming,"  and  "reclaiming"  the  powers  of  sov- 
ereignty delegated  to  the  General  Government  and  known  as  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States. 

They  were  called  "  Secession  Ordinances."  A  celebrated  son 
of  your  State  drafted  the  Ordinance  of  Georgia.  x9  Another  illus- 
trious descendent  of  your  State  presented  that  ordinance  to  your 
General  Assembly  in  session  at  Raleigh. 20 

The  right  of  a  State  to  resume  its  sovereignty  at  its  pleasure 
was  never  doubted  by  the  framers  of  the  Constitution,  in  fact,  it 
was  the  cardinal  inducement  which  formed  the  Union.  For  three 
quarters  of  a  century  no  sensible  man  dared  to  declare  openly  the 
contrary  of  this  proposition.  As  early  as  1803  Massachusetts  se- 
ceded ;  again  on  the  admission  of  the  State  of  Louisiana  in  181 1  ; 
and  again  on  the  annexation  of  Texas  in  1845. 

The  "  Secret  Hartford  Convention"  was  held  by  delegates 
from  the  legislatures  of  Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island,  New  Hamp- 
shire and  Vermont,  for  the  purpose  of  seceding  from  the  Union. 


(18)  Rev.  J.  B.  K.  Smith,  of  the  Tombigbee  Rangers. 

(19)  Eugenius  A.  Nisbet,  See  Georgia  Journal,  1861. 

(20)  Samuel  Hall,  Esq.,  Georgia  Journal,  p.  248. 


Maine  was  not  born  then,  and  everybody  wondered  what  had  be- 
come of  ' '  Blue  Connecticut, ' '  as  she  had  no  representative  pres- 
ent. 

The  real  spirit  of  that  time  is  shown  in  the  following  question  : 
"  I  will  not  yet  despair  !     I  will  rather  anticipate  a  New  Con- 
federacy, exempt  from  the  corrupt  and  corrupting  influence  and 
oppression  of  the  aristocratic  Democrats  of  the  South.    Then  will 
be  (and  our  children,  at  farthest,  will  see  it)  a  separation."  2I 

The  last  instance  of  secession  was  West  Virginia.  The  Vir- 
ginia Convention  was  in  session  when  the  call  for  troops  was  made 
by  the  President  of  the  United  States  ;  the  Ordinance  of  Secession 
was  passed  and  carried  by  a  large  majority  of  the  votes  of  the 
State.  Some  of  the  northwestern  counties 22  of  the  State  held  a 
Convention,  carved  a  State  out  of  Virginia,  in  violation  of  the 
Constitution, 23  and  was  admitted  into  the  Union  by  Act  of  Con- 
gress 24  and  approved  by  the  President.  This  part  of  Virginia 
was  thoroughly  Puritanized.  So  its  acts  of  "insurrection" 
"revolution"  and  "secession"  were  pardoned,  and,  therefore, 
with  all  its  faults,  it  was  welcomed  into  the  fold.  "  A  bastard 
child  of  a  political  rape  !  "  24a 

This  is  not  a  moiety  of  the  iniquity  perpetrated  in  the  name 
of  the  Union  Government.  Various  States  were  subjugated, 
military  governments  established,  their  laws  repealed,  their  con- 
stitutions changed,  and  amendments  to  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  adopted  ;  all  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet. 

But  my,  when  the  camp  followers  found  us  out,  "carpet- 
baggers," "bitter-weed,"  "itch,"  "nut-grass,"  "wooden-nut- 
megs," "poplar-hams,"  and  all  the  parent  evils  swarmed  over 
the  once  beautiful  Southland  like  locusts  of  old  ;  they  found  a 
congenial  welcome  in  the  arms  of  the  "  scallawags,"  "buck 
negroes,"  and  "  Yankee  soldiers  "  stationed  in  every  county  with 
"  Freedman's  Bureau,"  "forty  acres  of  land  and  a  mule,"  all 
intended  to  outrage  common  decency  !  "The  demon  which 
erected  it  upon  the  guillotine  in  the  days  of  Robespierre  and 
Marat,  which  abolished  the  Sabbath  and  worshiped  reason  in  the 
person  of  a  harlot,  yet  survives  to  work  other  horrors,  of  which 
those  of  French  Revolution  are  but  the  type." 


(21)  Rise  and  Fall  of  the  Confederate  Government,  Vol.  I.,   Chap.  9,   quoting  Timothy 
Pickering. 

(22)  Rise  and  Fall  of  the  Confederate  Government,  Vol.  I.,  Chap.  9. 

(23)  Constitution  U.  S.,  Art.  IV.,  Sec.  2. 

(24)  Rise  and  fall  of  the  Confederate  Government,  Vol.  II.,  Chap.  38. 
(24a)  Henry  M.  Wise. 


13 

The  suffering,  misery,  ruin  and  devastation  wrought  by  this 
high  carnival  of  crime,  finds  its  parallel  in  the  history  of  the  rev- 
elry of  a  Caligula  or  a  Nero. 

As  I  said,  the  civil  government  as  established  by  the  people, 
was  set  aside  and  a  military  oligarchy  was  set  up,  with  the  Presi- 
dent at  the  head  aided  by  his  cabinet ;  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus 
was  suspended  and  trial  by  jury  abolished,  and  these  things  were 
done  under  the  plea  of  "  necessity,"  but,  in  fact,  was  in  keeping 
with  the  whole  idea  of  stealing  and  robbing  the  primary  end  and 
purpose  of  waging  war  !  The  confiscation  acts  would  have  been 
inoperative  under  the  organic  law  and  the  laws  of  nations,  and 
their  plans  for  plunder  averted.  They  had  in  view  the  seizure  of 
five  thousand  millions  of  dollars  of  private  property  and  the  libra- 
tion  of  all  slaves  ;  to  accomplish  all  this  they  were  forced  to  as- 
sert the  barbaric  principle  that  "  might  was  right."  25 

The  head  of  Mammon  would  not  down  ;  the  wealth  of  the 
Southern  people  must  be  secured.  They  were  satiated  by  the 
wealth  robbed  from  us  by  the  war,  but  they  were  not  satisfied. 
Under  the  military  government  the  infamous  reconstruction 
government  was  put  in  power  ;  and  the  incubus  of  public  debts 
of  the  States  are  yet  hanging  over  us  like  an  appalling  cloud  to 
dwarf  our  few  industries  ;  while  in  the  North  the  privileged  classes 
were  in  partnership  with  the  government,  using  its  wealth  and 
power  for  private  gain. 

Men,  from  childhood,  have  grown  gray  since  the  Confederate 
arms  were  stacked  at  Appomatox  and  upon  this  historical  spot. 
Will  the  avenging  Nemesis  pursue  us  forever  ? 

Like  Dr.  Durham,  when  he  left  Hambright  for  Boston,  if  you 
will  make  the  journey,  you  will  be  impressed  with  the  reason  for 
his  great  surprise  at  the  great  wealth,  and  lavish  expenditure  of 
money  in  contrast  between  the  South,  in  a  great  measure  wrung 
from  us  by  unequal  taxes,  railroad  partnerships,  Star-route  rob- 
berries,  the  great  combination  of  wealth,  trusts  and  pools,  the 
natural  sequence  of  lust  and  power. 

This  is  but  a  part  of  the  simple  story  of  the  times  through 
which  you  have  passed,  exhibiting  to  the  world  that  fortitude 
under  adversity  which  has  preserved  to  you  the  principles  estab- 
lished by  your  fathers,  and  which  places  you  foremost  in  the  eyes 
of  all  mankind,  as  the  purest  type  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race. 

You  feel  justly  proud  of  your  good  name,  sung  in  song  and 


(25)  Rise  and  Fall  of  the  Confederate  Government,  Chap.  25. 


14 

story  ;   "  The  typical  American  Democracy  ;."  you  gave  the  first 
blood  for  Independence ;  you  were   first   at    Bethel  and   last  at 
Appomattox,     You  "  sent  more  boys  to  the  front  than  any  other 
State  in  the  Confederacy — and  left  more  dead  on  the  field."  26 
"God  bless  North  Carolina  !  " 


(26)  The  Leopard's  Spots. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  N.C.  AT  CHAPEL  HILL 


00032757892 

FOR  USE  ONLY  IN 
THE  NORTH  CAROLINA  COLLECTION 


